• Last night, Kate Willett, David Tveite, David Sitrick, Geoffrey Asmus, Rohan Padhye, Aimee Rose Ranger and many others put on an incredibly funny and moving memorial tribute show to celebrate the life of Raghav Mehta. The show was really unlike any other I’d ever been to- it was big hearted and extremely funny. It kicked off with Jo Firestone having the crowd name 25 birds which was really kind of beautiful and made the whole thing feel like a communal experience. From there, the show was a mixture of tributes from really great straight up stand up from Andrew Durso, Daniel Simonsen, Ismael Loutfi, Ryan Donahue to fun powerpoint tributes from David Spector, Rachel McCartney and David Sitrick. Jake Flores and Alex Ptak did a fantastic recap of Raghav’s movie reviews. There were also personal, anecdotal, funny tributes to the man himself from Kate Willett (hers ended in a powerful call to action), David Tveite, Anders Lee and Ted Alexandro. The night capped with us watching Raghav’s tight five which was really great. The whole thing was all very, very good and funny and I filmed it with Danny Felts. Hopefully, this will all be available for people to see soon.
• Wanted to publicly shout out the super talented Harold Coree Spencer for writing a book on Comedy Festivals. What a great idea. Man, this book needs to exist. I heard about the project when Coree put out feelers a month or two back asking people to contribute their experiences for her book and I volunteered. We spoke on the phone talking about experiences at Festivals I had (I might have accidentally gotten an audience member arrested once), what makes a good one, bad one, etc. and after our talk, I had an even greater understanding and appreciation for those who make festivals happen. Personally, I can’t wait until this book is released and I am def pre-ordering a copy.
• Downed quite a bit of comedy content as always this week. Netflix just puts these specials out at such an insane rate it’s hard to keep up. I saw the Nate Bargatze special which was fun, low-key and ended with a really smart closer (SPOILERS) where he updates the crowd on stories from his previous special. I loved that. What a brilliant way to keep us all in the loop. Also, caught Amy Schumer’s special which was better than people give it credit for; it actually had my favorite joke of the year so far wedged into it around the 20-minute mark. Finally, I caught Kevin Hart’s new hour. Also, really had some great moments. I was most impressed by how he plays with sound effects; I’ve never seen someone use an echo effect ever before to amplify a joke. Even if you’re not a fan, all of these guys are really elevating the form. Caught two interesting movies this week as well. “Set it Up” streaming on Netflix is an incredible rom-com and is a masterclass on how to write a tight screenplay that pays off its setups (they do Set it Up after all; so sorry for this). Just as good, if not better was the Emilio Estevez written, directed and starring (you read that right) movie about public libraries called, “The Public.” It’s playing in theaters now. Go in knowing nothing about it and be pleasantly surprised. Finally, the trailer dropped this week for the new Kumail movie, “Stuber.” It looks so, so, so funny and comes out on my birthday. Cannot wait. Cinema is alive and well!
• Had two nice little milestones this week. First, I reached 100 subscribers on YouTube. It’s not a huge number but it feels good to have made my way to triple digits. Slowly but surely climbing the ladder every day. Also, I was interviewed about comedy as my “side hustle” in Backstage (link in comments). You better believe I’m using that as a credit when actors ask me about comedy.
• Last Thursday, I got to take part in my favorite comedy holiday which is the famous line at the Comic Strip to audition there. I’ve auditioned FOUR times and have been rejected for a different reason each time (the best reason for rejection was, “You probably don’t talk to your Mom enough.”). Either way, the turnout this year was unbelievable- I estimate there was maybe 300-400 people there waiting to do five minutes for their booker, Richie. One of the auditioners, a curious fellow named Jolli Cat, who I’d never seen before had the courage to get up and sing for all of us while we waited around. We booed and then chanted, “Pass him! Pass him!” I’ll never forget this dude. He’s just slightly more delusional than the rest of us. Anyway, my date for my audition is April 28, 2020. So yes, you read that right. I’m already booked next year.
• Did two shows last week. Hosted last Thursday at V-Spot and had a fun little show. Some regulars (two of them!) came back which made me feel like a rockstar. The second show was at Kenny Warren’s world famous Grisly Pear which I did alongside Anna E. Paone. Show was fun as always and watching Kenny go up is one of my favorite things in the City. He’s another guy you HAVE to see live or just make a night out of going to the Pear. It really is the City’s next great club and you should be a part of it as soon as you can. It should be noted that CJ Browne had such a fun set that it deserves to be mentioned- so loose and packed with hard jokes. Made me want to go home and write right away. Also, one last shout out to the show’s headliner Steve Francois. This is a guy I’ve never seen in the City before doing some of the most original, best, high energy material I’ve seen. Just when you think you know New York, you realize you haven’t even come close to having seen it all.
• Taped Madison Allen and Kendall Farrell last Friday at Cobra Club. Both of these guys got fantastic tapes and once again, major props to Myka Fox, Max Bruno and Erik Bergstrom for running such a fun weekly there. It’s one of the best hangout shows in the City for a reason, it’s just damn good.
• Wanted to shout out my good friend Nate Borgman this week. Not only did I make a quick appearance on his podcast which was really fun, but the guy should be commended for being one of the City’s sharpest writers whether it be onstage, in sketches or on Twitter. Every day he is getting better and we all should be taking notice. Follow him on every platform you can.
• As for where I’m at this week, you can catch me hosting at V Spot on Thursday with my weekly, performing on the Friday V-Spot show which I’m filling in as co-producer with Teresa Sheffield for this week, and on Sunday at Matt Maran’s Comedy Fight Club going against Jeremy Schaftel.
Deuces
